Best movies of the year 2025

1) Sinners

Ryan Coogler’s Sinners is a bold, ambitious and exhilarating piece of filmmaking that blends genre thrills with introspective social commentary. The film combines supernatural elements with a grounded exploration of identity, faith, and community. Michael B. Jordan delivers a commanding performance that anchors the film’s darker themes while maintaining its spongy energy.  Sinners is one of the most memorable cinematic experiences in recent years

2) Train Dreams

A quiet yet deeply affecting portrait of solitude and the passage of time. The film follows the life of a railroad worker whose personal journey mirrors the transformation of the American frontier. Edgerton delivers a subtle and deeply moving performance at the center of the film. Poetic, reflective, and beautifully crafted, Train Dreams is a haunting meditation on memory, loss, and the fleeting nature of life.

3) Hamnet

The film explores the devastating loss that inspired Shakespeare’s Hamlet, transforming historical material into a deeply emotional meditation on grief and artistic creation. Zhao’s delicate direction emphasizes atmosphere and visual storytelling, creating a film that feels both expansive and intensely personal. Beautifully acted and exquisitely shot, Hamnet is a moving reflection on love, loss, and the enduring power of art.

4) Sentimental Value

A thoughtful and emotionally layered exploration of family, memory, and unresolved relationships, blending emotional intimacy with sharp observational insight. Anchored by strong performances from the entire cast, the film delicately examines the lingering impact of family history and personal regret. Trier’s elegant direction and restrained storytelling give the film a quiet emotional power that steadily builds throughout the film. This is certainly of the year’s most perceptive character dramas.

5) Blue Moon

Ethan Hawke delivers a mesmerizing performance (best of the year) that perfectly blends wit, vulnerability, and inner conflict. Blue Moon is a richly textured character study about artistic ambition and personal longing. The film captures the tension between creative brilliance and personal turmoil. Linklater’s relaxed yet confident direction allows the characters and dialogue to unfold with natural authenticity. Thoughtful, melancholic, and beautifully performed, Blue Moon is a quietly powerful portrait of a troubled creative mind.

6) Bugonia

Yorgos Lanthimos’ Bugonia is another wildly inventive work from one of contemporary cinema’s most distinctive filmmakers. Blending dark comedy, absurdist satire, and unsettling social commentary, the film explores paranoia, power, and collective delusion with Lanthimos’ trademark eccentricity. Emma Stone delivers a captivating performance that perfectly matches the film’s strange and unpredictable tone. Lanthimos’ precise visual style and offbeat humor create a world that is both surreal and unsettlingly familiar. Strange, provocative, and darkly funny, Bugonia is an audacious cinematic experience.

7) If I Had Legs I’d Kick You

Mary Bronstein’s If I Had Legs I’d Kick You is a raw and uncompromising exploration of anxiety, parenthood, and emotional collapse. The film immerses the audience in the chaotic life of a woman struggling to hold her world together. Rose Byrne delivers a fearless and emotionally exhausting performance that gives the film its intense power. Bronstein directs with an unflinching honesty that captures the suffocating pressure and psychological strain of modern life. Difficult but deeply compelling, If I Had Legs I’d Kick You is one of the year’s most daring and emotionally charged films.

8) It Was Just an Accident

Jafar Panahi’s It Was Just an Accident is a quietly powerful moral drama that examines the ripple effects of a seemingly ordinary event. Told with Panahi’s characteristic restraint and humanism, the film gradually reveals deeper questions about guilt, responsibility, and compassion. Panahi’s understated direction allows the story’s moral tension to unfold naturally, drawing the viewer into its ethical complexities. The film’s simplicity ultimately gives way to profound emotional and philosophical insight. Elegant, thoughtful, and deeply humane, It Was Just an Accident reaffirms Panahi’s status as one of the most important voices in world cinema.

9) Sing Sing Blue

Sing Sing Blue is an inspiring and deeply moving celebration of the transformative power of art. Set within a prison theater program, the film blends documentary realism with powerful storytelling to create an emotionally authentic experience. The performances, many from formerly incarcerated actors, give the film a remarkable sense of honesty and immediacy. Kwedar directs with empathy and sensitivity, allowing the humanity of his characters to shine through. Uplifting and profoundly humane, Sing Sing Blue is a testament to the redemptive power of creativity.

10) Sorry, Baby

Sorry, Baby is a charming and refreshingly original debut that balances humor with emotional vulnerability. Victor’s sharp writing and confident direction create a film that feels both deeply personal and widely relatable. The story explores themes of identity, relationships, and self-discovery with warmth and wit. Victor’s performance at the center of the film gives the story a sense of authenticity that elevates the material. Funny, heartfelt, and emotionally sincere, Sorry, Baby marks the arrival of an exciting new voice in independent cinema.

Oscar Predictions

Best Picture

Who should win: Sinners

Who is going to win: Sinners

Who could come out of nowhere: Hamnet              

Comment: While One Battle seems to have the pedigree and industry support that often carries films far in the Best Picture race, I personally didn’t find it particularly compelling compared to some of the year’s other contenders. By contrast, Sinners feels far more ambitious and emotionally resonant.  

Best Director

Who should win: Ryan Coogler        

Who is going to win: Paul Thomas Anderson

Who could come out of nowhere: Chloé Zhao

Comment: I’m a huge admirer of Paul Thomas Anderson, but One Battle didn’t fully connect with me. Meanwhile, Ryan Coogler delivers an electrifying piece of filmmaking with Sinners, and he would be my pick for Best Director.

Best Actor

Who should win: Ethan Hawke

Who is going to win:  Michael B Jordan

Who could come out of nowhere: Wagner Moura

Comment: Ethan Hawke would be my choice for Best Actor for Blue Moon. While Michael B. Jordan in Sinners and Timothée Chalamet continue to prove themselves as two of the most exciting leading actors of their generation, Hawke’s portrayal of Lorenz Hart carries a deeper emotional weight and complexity

Best Actress

Who should win: Rose Byrne

Who is going to win: Jessie Buckley

Who could come out of nowhere: Kate Hudson

Comment: Jessie Buckley’s work in Hamnet is undeniably powerful, but Rose Byrne gives what may be the most daring performance of the year

Best Supporting Actor

Who should win: Stellan Skargard

Who is going to win: Sean Pean

Who could come out of nowhere: Delroy Lindo

Comment: Stellan Skarsgård would be my personal choice for Supporting Actor, delivering a performance full of nuance and quiet power. That said, I suspect Sean Penn may end up taking the Oscar. The Academy often gravitates toward louder, more demonstrative performances, which could give Penn the edge over Skarsgård’s far more restrained work.

Best Supporting Actress

Who should win: Inga Ibsdotter

Who is going to win: Amy Madigan  

Who could come out of nowhere: Wunmi Mosaku

Comment: Inga Ibsdotter would be my pick for Supporting Actress thanks to a performance that is both powerful and beautifully nuanced. However, I suspect Amy Madigan may ultimately take the Oscar. Madigan’s role has some of the bigger, more demonstrative qualities the Academy often rewards, though to her credit she brings moments of real subtlety.

Beast Original Screenplay

Who should win: Sinners

Who is going to win: Sinners

Who could come out of nowhere: Sentimental Value

Comment: Sinners should win Best Original Screenplay and I believe it will. The writing is bold, original, and thematically rich, making it easily the strongest script among this year’s contenders.

Best Adapted Screenplay

Who should win: Bugonia

Who is going to win: One Batthe After Another

Who could come out of nowhere: Hamnet

Comment: Unfortunately, I suspect One Battle is going to win Best Adapted Screenplay, which is particularly puzzling since the screenplay was actually the weakest element of the film for me. Films like Bugonia and Hamnet display far more inventive and nuanced writing. My personal choice would be Bugonia, whose screenplay feels sharper, more original, and far more daring.